FIC: Western Lovers:Cowboys and Archaeologists 12/30

[sassywitch.livejournal.com]

Title: Western Lovers: Cowboys and Archaeologists 12/30
Author: sassywitch
Pairing: BB/DM with a smattering of VM/LT and DW/OB
Rating: NC-17, to be on the safe side.
Summary: Billy is a man to be reckoned with. Can Dom heal his wounded soul and his own into the bargain. Could Billy make him forget the bitter lessons of the past?
Feedback: Feedback is my writers crack, which is not to be confused at all with plumbers crack.
Disclaimer: Not at all true in reality. These men whilst adorable and perfectly happy to slash themselves, their actual relationship is something that they only know. This story is adapted from a series of books that I adored when I was younger written by Elizabeth Lowell.
Word Count: 7474
Header Art: Courtesy of the incredibly talented loki_girl
Previous Chapters: can be found Here
A/N: A huge thank you to dylan_dufresne for the inspiration, the prodding and the beta. My grammar sucks so she had to suffer it so nobody else would.

~*~*~*~

"Not a chance," Billy said flatly. "If you think I'm letting you excavate that kiva you're crazy." He pulled Dom out of the truck and shut the door hard behind him. "You're not going anywhere near that hole."

Dom blinked and stared at the man who had suddenly become every inch of the Ramrod of the Double L, rather than the restrained lover who just last night had taught him all the pleasure of being kissed. Just kissed. All through the long drive to Arwen Canyon, memories had come at odd times making Dom shiver; then he would look over at Billy, and Billy would smile at him, knowing what Dom was thinking.
Billy wasn't smiling now. Neither his stance, nor the taut power of his body suggested that there was a bit of gentleness in him.

"I want your promise on that, Dom."

Dom waited for the fear that had always come to him in the past when a man had stood hard shouldered in front of him, his very persona a threat that didn't have to be spoken aloud.

"Or else?" he asked tightly.

"Or else we've had a long drive out here for nothing, because we're going back."

"And if I refuse to go back?"

"You'll go anyway."

Dom looked at Billy's green eyes and wondered how he had ever thought of them as warm, much less hot enough to set fires.

"Ramrod. It does suit you."

Billy waited.

"I'll stay on this side of the canyon," Dom said tightly. "You have my word on it. Not that you need it. You could enforce your edict, and you damn well know it."

"Could I?" Billy asked in a cool voice, his thickened accent, belying his emotionless voice. "You're smart and you're quick. You could find a way to go exploring before I could stop you. But now that you've given me your word, I won't wake up in a cold sweat, seeing you lying beneath stone, broken and bleeding, only this time you aren't moving, this time you don't get up and walk away."

Dom felt the blood leave his face. He made a small sound and reached for Billy. The knowledge that Billy was only enforcing his will for fear of Dom's safety touched a part of Dom that he didn't know he still held.

"Billy?" Dom whispered touching Billy's face.

Billy closed his eyes for an instant, and when they opened again, they were alive once more. He bent and kissed Dom's upturned mouth quickly, then more slowly. When he lifted his mouth he whispered, "I'm glad you weren't afraid of me just now."

"I wasn't?" Dom's brow furrowed in confusion.

Billy framed Dom's face between his hands. "You dug in and gave as good as you got. Then you decided that it wasn't worth the long drive back to the ranch, so you agreed. That's not fear, Honey. That's common sense. Me, now, I was scared."
Dom laughed in his face.

"It's true," Billy insisted. "I was afraid you'd be frightened of me and then you wouldn't let me kiss you again."

Memories of the previous night rose up in Dom, sending heat glittering from his chest to his knees, heat pooling low in his body, hardening it.

"What sweet sounds you make, " Billy murmured, listening to the soft breaking of Dom's breath. "Will you panic if I put my arms around you and give you the kind of kiss I wanted to give you this morning?"
Dom's breath came out in a long rush. "I've been hoping you would. I know it sounds crazy but I feel like its been forever since I kissed you. I don't understand why or how even but I miss your taste Billy. I miss it until I ache." Dom's words came out on a whisper.

"Open you mouth for me, Honey," Billy whispered. "I missed you the same way, aching with it."

The heat and sweetness of Billy's mouth locked with Dom's, and his taste swept through Dom, stealing his breath, his thoughts. Dom's arms tightened around Billy's neck as he sought to get closer to him, then closer still. Soft sounds came from Dom's throat as he gave in to the sweeping need to hold Billy so fiercely that he couldn't let go of Billy until his kiss had soothed the aching that had made sleep elude them both through the long hours of the night.

Gravity slipped, and then vanished, leaving Dom suspended within the hard warmth of Billy's arms. With catlike pleasure, Dom kneaded the flexed muscles of Billy's arms and shoulders, urging him to hold him more tightly, not caring if he could breathe. He felt no fear at the blunt reality of Billy's strength pressing around him in a hot, sensual vice, for that was what Dom wanted, his body undulating against the insistent hardness of Billy's. This was what Dom had ached for, without knowing why or how.

Not until Dom was dizzy from lack of air did he permit the kiss to end, and even then, he clung to Billy, his face pressed against the sultry skin of Billy's neck, his body shaking with each breath.

"Oh, Honey," Billy said, shuddering with the force of his violent self restraint.

"There's a fire in you that could make stone burn. If you ever want more that kissing from a man, come to me."

Dom made an inarticulate sound and pressed his mouth against the corded tension of Billy's neck, and the touch of Dom's tongue on his skin went through Billy like lightning.

"You taste good," Dom said slowly, touching him again with his tongue. "Salty. Does your skin taste like that all over or just on your neck?"

Desire ripped through Billy as he though of his whole body being tasted by Dom's innocent, incendiary tongue. Very carefully, Billy placed Dom away from him until he stood on his own feet. Billy forced himself not to look at Dom's reddened lips and cheeks flushed with desire. He wanted Dom until he was shaking with it. He had never wanted another person like that. And that, too, shook him.

"Billy?"

"If you want to get any sketching done, we'd better unload the truck. You'll lose the best light."

"Sweet light."

Billy lifted a single eyebrow, his chest still heaving as he struggled to calm his body.

"That's what photographers call late afternoon light," Dom explained. "Sweet light."

An image came to Billy of Dom, wearing only slanting golden light, the golden hue of his skin glowing, and his husky voice begging Billy to touch him. A strangled whimper left his lips as he struggled with superhuman effort to banish the image, forcing himself to concentrate on what must be done.

"Where do you want to sketch first?" Billy asked. His voice was too thick, his accent almost indecipherable, even to himself, but he could do nothing about that for a few minutes, any more than he could quickly banish the hard, throbbing evidence of his hunger for Dom.

"I've done all the close ups of the ruins I can do until the grads clear out more rubble and excavate to a new level," Dom said, moving to press one long, elegant hand against Billy's back, his brow furrowed at Billy's gruff words. "I need to do some more perspective sketches, showing the ruins in relation to their natural environment, but to do that, I've got to be on the opposite side of the canyon."

Shrugging, Dom said nothing more. He had agreed not to cross over to the other side of the canyon, which meant that he had no sketches to do at the moment.

Silently, Billy swore, knowing his reluctance to let Dom near the kiva was irrational.

"Get your sketching gear together. I'll go over the area myself. If nothing else gives way, you can sketch anywhere you like. Just make sure I'm within calling distance. And don't go near that damned kiva."

Fifteen minutes later, Billy and Dom had unloaded the truck and were ready to go. Billy set out for the ruins at a pace that made Dom work hard to keep up(, but h)e didn't complain. One look at the line of Billy's jaw told Dom that he wasn't pleased to be leading him back toward the Kiva.

Within a few minutes, Dom was tasting the same kind of dread that haunted Billy. Watching Billy quarter the area at the bottom of the cliff where he had fallen through, waiting for him to stumble into an ancient trap, standing with breath held until he ached; it was all Dom could to not to call Billy back, even though he knew that the chance of Billy finding another intact Kiva was so small as to be insignificant.

The chance had been equally small for Dom, and he had stepped through the roof of a kiva anyway.

Half an hour passed before Billy was satisfied that the terrain concealed no more traps. If there were any other Kiva's, they had been filled in by dirt, long ago, or their ceilings were still strong enough to carry his one hundred plus pounds. Either way, Dom should be safe. The kiva he had fallen into on his first day was a hundred feet distant, clearly marked by stakes.

Billy signaled for Dom to join him, and Dom scrambled up the rugged slope with the offhanded grace of a deer. Very quickly, he was standing close enough for Billy to sense the heat of his beautiful body.
"Find anything?" Dom asked breathlessly

"Potshards, masonry rubble and that."

Dom followed the direction of Billy's thumb, but it took a moment to realize what he was seeing. Sometime in the past five to eight hundred years, a piece of the cliff had fallen, all but filling the alcove below. Once, the opening had held rooms. Now it held only an immense mound of cracked and broken sandstone. Water seeped in tiny rivulets from beneath the stone, telling of a spring hidden beneath. Dom's trained eye quickly picked out the angular stones and random potshards that marked an Anasazi site.
"I hope they were already gone when the cliff came down," Dom said in a low voice, remembering what Billy had said.

…lying beneath stone, only this time you aren't moving, this time you don't get up and walk away.

Billy hand stroked Dom's head from crown to neck, before pulling Dom back against the curve of his body slowly, pressing his lips against Dom's in a long, wet kiss. "Somehow," he said slowly as he pulled away. "I don't think they were. In fact, I'm…certain." Billy caressed Dom's sensitive nape with the ball of his thumb before he leaned in for another heartbreakingly slow kiss. Drawing his mouth away from Dom's, Billy lifted his hand and stepped away.

"Better get sketching, Honey. Even stone doesn't last forever." Billy closed his eyes at the flash of burning arousal that lanced through his body at his thoughts. "You're losing your sweet light."
Focused and relaxed at the same time, Dom sketched quickly, not wanting to lose the effect of a slanting, afternoon light on the ruins across the canyon. At Dom's urging, Billy had crossed the small creek again and stood, looking toward the ruins, giving scale to the cliff and the ragged lines of once whole rooms.

"Just a few more minutes, " Dom called.

Billy waved his understanding. Dom's pencil flew over the paper as he added texture and definition to the cliffs and canyon bottom, cottonwood and brush. The heightened contrast gave an almost eerie depth to the sketch.

The drawings Dom had made before had been accurate representations of the ruins as they were today. The drawing he was working on now was a re-creation of the ruins as they had looked long ago, when the sound of barking dogs, domesticated turkeys and children's laughter echoed through the canyon, a time when women ground corn in stone metates or painted intricate designs on pottery while their men discussed the weather or the Gods or the latest rumor of raids from the north. The narrow canyon would have been alive with voices then, especially on a day like today, when the sun was hot and vital, pouring light and life over the land.

Yet today, despite Dom's usual custom, he wasn't sketching people among the buildings. Nor was he sketching the burning blue radiance of the sky. There were heavy clouds surrounding the sole figure in his drawing, a man standing on the margin of the creek. The man was both dark and compelling, ginger hair lifting on a storm wind, an outlaw shaman calling to his brother, the storm.

The power of the man was revealed in the taut, male lines of shoulder and waist, buttocks and legs, a strength that was rooted in the centre of the earth, and in a past when the lives of humans and spirits had been intertwined. Standing with his back to the collapsed alcove, the shaman was a still centre in the swirling violence of the wind. His brother, the storm, had answered the shaman's call.
The shaman turned around and looked at Dom, with eyes the color of field grasses, eyes that saw past the surface of reality, to the soul beneath.

Dom shivered, blinked, and realized that he had been staring at the finished drawing so intently that his body was cramped in protest. Automatically, he flipped the sketch tablet closed, both protecting and concealing the drawing. He slipped the tablet into its carrying case, then stood up, and moments later, he was hurrying down the slope towards Billy.

Billy turned at the sound of Dom's approach, watching with eyes the color of grass.
"Finished already?" Billy asked, holding out his hand to take Dom's pack.

Dom gave Billy his hand instead, and slowly, he laced their fingers together until their hands were palm to palm. The sensitive inner skin of Dom's fingers felt the hard pressure of him everywhere, the slow, complete interlocking as intimate as a kiss. Billy's palm was warm and hardened by work, making Dom wonder how it would feel on his skin if he were to give Billy the freedom of his body.

The thought haunted Dom while he and Billy went through their normal end of day chores, a basin bath behind the screen, then preparing dinner and cleaning up the campsite. Although the sun had vanished behind stone cliffs, true sunset was still an hour away. Shadows flowing out from the rocks had taken the edge off the unusual heat of the day, but the canyon walls still radiated the captured warmth of the sun.

After the camp bath, Dom felt no need to pull his customary loose sweater over the sleeveless cotton tee shirt he was wearing, and instead had substituted barefeet and shorts for hiking boots and jeans. Billy was feeling the heat, too, and after his bath, he hadn't bothered to put on a shirt or socks and boots. At the moment, Billy was stretched out on his bed roll, which he had moved to the edge of the overhang, hoping to catch a vagrant breeze.

Dom turned away from the shards he had been sorting and saw Billy sprawled with feline grace across his bedroll, and felt an increasingly familiar glittering sensation from his chest to his knees. Without stopping to think, he walked over and sat next to Billy.

"Billy?"

His eyes opened, deep, green and smoldering.

Dom's thoughts scattered and with them, his ability to speak coherently. "Can I - that is, would you - could we?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

Small hands closed around Dom's face, bringing him closer. Their mouths fitted together smoothly, seamlessly, and at the first taste of each other, they both made low sounds of pleasure. Billy's hands shifted, lifting Dom, easing him across his chest until most of Dom's weight was pressed against him. The shiver that went through Dom was as clear as lightning at midnight, causing Billy to groan and release Dom.

"Dammit, Dommie," Billy said heavily "I didn't mean to frighten you. I didn't think how you would feel being on a man's bed again, and me half naked at that."

Dom shook his head. "It wasn't in a bed, it was in the front seat of a car. That's why I always sit so far away in the truck. And he never-never completely took off his clothes. Or mine."

Billy closed his eyes so Dom wouldn't see the rage tugging against his control. Stroking his head and back, Billy held Dom gently against his chest, kissing his hair, and wishing that he could change the past.

But he could not. He could only hold his Dominic and want him until it was a kind of agony.

The slow stroking of Billy's hand sent currents of pleasure through Dom, making his breath sigh out. He smoothed his cheek against Billy's chest, encountering a resilient cushion of hair instead of cloth, and made a murmuring sound of discovery. Billy's hand hesitated, then continued it's languid journey from the silky hair of Dom's head to the intriguing line of his back. Though the pressure was unchanged, the caress was different, sensual rather than soothing, enticing rather than calming. Billy felt the heat of Dom's breath on his breastbone as he kissed him lingeringly, and then he felt Dom's lips open.

"Go ahead," Billy said. "Find out if I taste the same there as I did on my neck."

Dom lifted his head until he could see Billy's eyes. "You wouldn't mind?"

His smile was slow, hot, and infinitely male. "Honey, you can put that sweet mouth anywhere on me that you want."

Blue eyes widened in shock and….curiosity. The shock Billy had expected. The curiosity made him want to pull Dom hard against his body and show him just how much he wouldn't mind any damn thing Dom wanted to do to him.

The first exploring touch of Dom's tongue made Billy's breath stick in his throat. He had expected a darting taste, followed by a smart comment about the limitations of camp baths, but he hadn't expected a sleek, hot foray through the gingery thickets of his chest hair. He hadn't expected purring sounds of pleasure as Dom tasted him, and most of all, he hadn't expected to feel Dom's arousal pressing against the arm that Billy that rested on Dom’s hip, his fingers gently caressing Dom’s belly as Dom's tongue found and caressed his nipple to a tiny aching point

Billy lay rigidly, fighting his own arousal and the sudden violent need to touch Dom, to press his hand against his chest, to taste and suckle and tease his nipples until Dom writhed in an agony of pleasure. But all Billy permitted himself to do was to slide the fingers of his left hand deeply into Dom's tousled hair, holding Dom's sweet mouth against him while his right hand kneaded Dom's back from nape to waist, pressing him even closer to the growing heat of his body. When he could bear no more, Billy eased Dom's mouth back up to his chest, until he could slide his tongue between Dom's teeth, kissing him deeply, drinking him, mating with him in the only way Dom would allow.

By the time Billy released Dom's mouth, he could barely think, much less speak. His lips felt flushed, full, sated, but the rest of his body ached.

"I want-more than kissing," Dom said. "But I don't know how much more."

"It's all right," Billy said, kissing Dom's lips gently. "We'll take it slow and easy. The only rule will be the oldest and best one of all. Anytime I do something you don't want, tell me. I'll stop."

"That isn't fair to you. Yes I know," Dom said quickly before Billy could speak. "Life isn't fair. But I don't want to make it any harder on you."

The left corner of Billy's mouth tugged up. "Honey, it can't get any harder that it already is." He brushed another kiss over Dom's mouth, scattering his objections.

Moving slowly, Billy lifted Dom from his body and stretched him out on his side with his back to him. "You'll feel safer this way, nothing in front of you, nothing holding you down, nothing trapping you. It'll be just me behind you, and you know I'd never take you by surprise don't you?"

"Y-yes," Dom whispered. It was the truth. If he hadn't trusted Billy at an instinctive level, he wouldn't even be in Arwen Canyon with Billy, much less still shivering from his kisses. He let out a long breath that he hadn't been aware of holding, and realized that Billy had been right about another thing. He did feel safer lying on his side with nothing in front of him but the view of a canyon slowly succumbing to the embrace of twilight. The setting couldn't have been farther from his memories of being wedged between cold machinery and Ethan's relentless body. "Billy?"

"Hmmm?"

"You're right. I feel safer this way."

"Good," Billy murmured, glad that Dom's back was to him, for it gave him the freedom to look at the line of Dom's back, flaring down to his trim hips and tapering slowly to his ankles and sensual feet. If Dom had seen the look of hunger in and male approval in Billy's eyes as he gazed at him, Dom might have felt less relaxed with his back to him.

Billy's calloused fingertips traced the line of Dom's slender body from the crown of his head, over his right ear, down his smooth neck, over his right shoulder, down his ribs to his trim waist, across his hips, then down every bit of his right leg to his ankle. The primal ripple of Dom's response followed his caress, telling Billy that Dom's entire body had become sensitized to passion.

"That," Billy said, kissing the nape of Dom's neck, "broke every one of the high school rules about collarbones and waist. Feel like bolting yet?'

Dom laughed shakily, wondering at the curious weakness that had followed Billy's caress. Yes, he had broken the rules, but in such a way as not to touch any of the forbidden areas.

"Does that little laugh mean I can do it again?" Billy asked.

The subdued humor in Billy's voice was another kind of reassurance to Dom. Ethan had been deadly serious whenever they had been alone, intent on getting as much from him sexually as he could, as quickly as he could.

"Yes," Dom whispered.

A shiver of response followed the seductive movement of Billy's fingertips from Dom's head to his heels. This time, Billy slid beneath Dom's arm, as well caressing the sensitive skin.

"You're a pleasure to touch," Billy said kissing, Dom's nape again. "Soft, resilient, alive." His pointy tongue traced the line of Dom's scalp to his ear and smiled to hear the sudden intake of his breath. "You have the sweetest skin. Here," Billy said, biting Dom's ear gently. "And here." His fingers curled around Dom's arm caressingly, and when Billy's fingers moved, on his mouth lingered. He kissed the bare skin of Dom's arm, nibbling softly, drawing tiny sounds from him. "And here."

Billy's hand shaped the tightly drawn line of Dom's waist, kneading lightly, then more firmly. Slowly, inevitably, his palm moved over the full curve of Dom's hip. "And here." His fingers fanned out, molding him. As his teeth closed over Dom's nape, Billy's hand flexed into his resilient flesh, luxuriating in the feel of him.

The unexpected caress drew a ragged sound from Dom as currents of sensation rippled through him, making him want to shift restlessly. He stirred and his movements acted to increase the pressure of Billy's hand. When Billy's palm smoothed down Dom's bare thigh, he forgot to be worried that Billy would slide his fingers between his legs and touch him. Only when Billy's hand had stroked over Dom's calves to his ankles did he realize that the danger zone had been bypassed once more.

Billy continued the slow, undemanding sweeps of his hand up and down Dom's body. The long caresses were punctuated by his teeth nibbling gently at Dom's nape, his shoulder and the elegant line of his back, and each time Billy's hand traveled back up Dom's body, he skimmed closer to the hard arousal between Dom's thighs and the sensitive, aroused nipples. Billy explored the smooth expanse of Dom's belly with slow pressures that eased his hips back into the muscular cradle of his legs, and the pressure of Dom against his fiercely aroused flesh was a sweet fire that made Billy's hands shake.

Breath held against a groan, Billy waited for Dom to retreat. When he didn't , Billy pressed him even closer, savoring the pleasure-pain of his own need for a moment before he released Dom, not wanting to frighten him. His hand shifted, stroking slowly up the centre line of Dom's body, giving him every chance to refuse the growing intimacy of his touch.

Cloth caught and tugged against Billy's hand. He made no move to move it, despite his aching desire to touch Dom without the cotton barrier of cloth. Following the center of Dom's body, Billy simply caressed him from navel to breastbone to neck and back again, knowing only a hint of the flesh that was calling to him.

"Wait," Dom said huskily.

Immediately, Billy's hand stopped, then withdrew. Before he could retreat farther, slender fingers covered his, holding his hand against Dom's heaving belly. His bare shoulders moved, long, elegant fingers urged Billy's, and suddenly Billy found his hand under Dom's shirt, his fingertips brushing against the hardened little nub of his nipple. A groan was pulled from Billy's throat, a low sound of desire mingled with the one Dom made as his nipple peaked in a rush of sensation that left him weak.

Dom's breath unraveled into broken sighs as Billy's hand moved slowly from one nipple to another, caressing him, cherishing him. Teasing Dom's nipples again and again, Billy then withdrew, leaving him aching for more.

"Billy?"

He made a sound that could have been, "More?"

"Yes," Dom sighed.

One finger skimmed over Dom's nipple again, but the sensation was much less acute because there was cloth between them this time. Without stopping to think, Dom reached up and pulled his shirt over his head, baring himself to Billy's touch.

A hammer blow of desire went through Billy, making his hands shake as he eased one arm below Dom's head, cradling him, and at the same time, giving both hands the freedom to caress him. Billy caught Dom's nipples between his fingers and squeezed gently, smiling at the rippling cry of pleasure he drew from Dom's lips. The sight of his tanned skin beneath Billy's pale hands made fire pool urgently in his belly, swelling him against his jeans until he could count each heartbeat as a separate surge of blood. Caressing Dom's hard nipples again, Billy wished he could take the responsive flesh into his mouth.

Dom's breath fragmented into a low cry as Billy tugged on his nipples, soothing and teasing him in the same, skilled motions. He squeezed again, harder, knowing that Dom was too aroused to feel a lighter touch, and Dom's back arched in a passionate reflex that pressed them against Billy's hands. Billy rubbed slowly in return, and was rewarded by a shivering cry of pleasure.

Deliberately, Billy's hands retreated from Dom's nipples to his ribs, dragging slowly across his body, and Dom moved sinuously, turning into Billy's touch, helping him. His reward was the return of Billy's fingers to his nipples, and then he felt the heat of Billy's mouth sliding down his spine in a sensual glide that made him shiver repeatedly. Each restrained bite was a separate burst of pleasure for Dom, sending glittering needles of sensation throughout his body. When Billy's tongue traced Dom's spine all the way up to his nape, Dom called out Billy's name in a throaty voice that Dom didn't even recognize as his own.

"I'm right here, Honey," Billy said, biting Dom's nape with enough force to leave small marks, tugging at the nipples that lay within his cupped hands. "And so are you."

Slowly, Billy released one hand and sent his hand down the front of Dom's body again. "There is so much of you to enjoy," he said in a low voice. This time, Billy didn't turn aside from the heavy arousal at the apex of Dom's thighs, nor did he linger. "Not just the obvious places, the battlegrounds of school kids," Billy continued, smoothing his hand over Dom's hip to the small of his back. "I like touching the rest of you, too." He traced Dom's hip down to the back of his thighs, and from there to his firm calves and ankles. "Firm, Golden….."

Billy's hand caressed higher, finding and stroking the inside of Dom's thighs as far as he could without seeming to pressure him for more than he was willing to give. His caress went from the back of Dom's knee to the small of his back, and Billy stroked first one hip, then the other, cupping and squeezing, drawing a surprised gasp of pleasure from Dom.

Shifting almost restlessly, Dom gave Billy's hand greater freedom. Billy moved his hand farther down, curling around Dom, holding him intimately, and heat burst through Dom, changing his gasp to a moan.

"Would you like lying just as you are now, but with no clothes to dull your pleasure?" Billy asked softly, kissing Dom's nape, his shoulder, his vulnerable spine. His hand tightened against Dom, subtly caressing him. "It's your choice, Honey. You're as safe as you want to be."

"That's not….fair." The last word came out in a rippling sigh as Billy's hand wrapped around Dom's cloth covered hardness.

"I thought you liked being teased," Billy said, smiling against Dom's spine, despite the sudden, savage clenching of his own need.

"You're not teasing me," Dom whispered.

"I'm not?" Billy's hand flexed again and he groaned quietly at Dom's helpless response to his touch. "Honey, I'm sure as hell teasing one of us."

He felt Dom's hands moving, heard the slide of a zipper, and sensed the sudden looseness of Dom's shorts. Billy's hand bunched, catching cloth between his fingers, pulling it away from the hard secrets he longed to explore.

When Dom felt his remaining clothes being tugged down his legs, felt the powerful, cloth covered male legs rubbing against his, a bolt of panic ripped through him, memories of another time, another place, pain. His legs clamped together and his body jackknifed in an instinctive effort to protect himself.

Instantly, Billy let go, leaving Dom's shorts around his knees. Grateful that Dom couldn't see the tension in his body, Billy brushed a butterfly kiss across his trembling shoulder.

"It's alright, Dom. It stops right here."

Gently, Billy began to ease his left arm from beneath Dom's head, but Dom grabbed his hand and held it against his chest once more.

"Don't leave," Dom whispered raggedly. "I didn't mean to react like that. It was just when I felt the zipper scrape down my leg, and I felt your thigh and you were still dressed, but it's all right now. I know where I am, who I'm with."

Billy kissed Dom's shoulder again, but made no move to reclaim the soft curves he had already made his own, much less the arousal that lay newly revealed to his touch.

"Would it make you feel better if I weren't wearing my jeans?" Billy asked.

Dom laughed a little, almost wildly. "Yes. I know it sounds crazy, but-yes."

With a silent prayer that his self control was as good as he thought it was, Billy rolled over, removed his clothes and returned to his former spoon position with Dom. The feel of Dom's bare bottom nestled deeply into his lap made Billy clench against a savage thrust of need.

Dom and I could be dead naked together, and he could still say no, and that would be that. So cool off cowboy, this one is for Dom, not me. As much as he wants, when he wants it, however he wants it. That's what I promised.

I must have been out of my mind.

The sweet heat and golden skin of Dom's body called out to Billy in a siren song as old as desire, making Billy want to curse his stupidity for promising not to coax or beg or demand from Dom what he had never needed so much before in his life.

He lay motionless, his left arm pillowing Dom's head, his right hand clenched into a fist that rested on his equally clenched thigh.

"Billy?" Dom whispered tentatively. "Please touch me again. It's all right. I trust you. I won't panic again. And I like – I like the feel of you without your jeans."

Slowly, Billy's right hand loosened. He took a deep, secret breath, then another, relaxing himself .

"Are you sure?" Billy asked, not knowing of whom he asked the question.

Dom answered for both of them. Without warning, he took both of Billy's hands and rubbed his nipples against Billy's palms, letting him feel the hardness and at the same time, easing some of the wild ache in his body. Billy's strong fingers closed around Dom's nipples, plucking at the tight peaks, coaxing a ripple of sound from him. After a moment, the smooth heat of Billy's right hand caressed Dom's belly, his waist, the small of his back, and then a single finger traced the length of his arousal.

If Dom had thought to conceal himself by locking his knees together and jackknifing his body, he had failed. Billy found Dom's aching arousal unshielded, defenseless and traced it lovingly before closing his hand around it and stroking it tightly. A sudden shudder took Dom's whole body, surprising him, and his husky cry was matched by Billy's groan of longing.

"Billy," Dom cried out, feeling strange, convulsing sensations building within him. "I—"

The word became a gasp and another shudder and then another as Dom felt Billy's touch glide across his body, retreat, then return only to retreat once more, leaving him dazed and empty, aching. Billy skimmed the edges of Dom's hardness, probing, discovering the thick vein on his underside with feather light touches, rubbing slowly, hotly stripping away Dom's breath, his thoughts, his restraint.

Dom twisted sinuously, trying to experience more of the pleasure that was greater than any he had ever felt, but still not enough; it was driving him mad. Billy was driving him mad, stealing his control so gently, and retreating, always retreating, flesh filling the emptiness he had never known existed within his soul.

"So hard," Billy whispered his voice a rumbling purr. He teased Dom slowly, loving the wild tremors of his response as his hand slid along Dom's hardness, groaning as he touched as much of Dom as he could. "So damned hot."

Billy's name broke on Dom's lips, a strained sound that could have been either fear or passion. Slowly, reluctantly, Billy began to withdraw his hand from Dom's body(, but) Dom's hand locked over his, holding him in place.

"Are you sure you want this?" Billy said hoarsely, leaning down, rubbing his cheek along Dom's bare hip.

"Yes."

"And this? Do you want this, too?"

Billy's hand shifted. One slick finger trailed between Dom's buttocks, trailing feather light across his opening, and the sensuous pressure within Dom increased. The glittering sensation that had haunted his body condensed into a network of wild lightning, and the sound Dom made was as involuntary as the tightening of his body. Afraid that he had hurt Dom, Billy withdrew before Dom could stop him.

" Honey? Was that pleasure or pain? You're so tight…"

Dom looked over his shoulder at Billy with glittering, sapphire eyes that burned in the aftermath of erotic lightning, and slowly he turned his whole body until he was facing Billy. When he spoke, Dom's voice was low, smoky, as helplessly sensual as his response to Billy as he guided Billy's hand from his shoulder to the arousal at the base of his torso. When Billy accepted his wordless invitation and returned to Dom's body, a shaft of pleasure made Dom gasp and tremble even as he instinctively sought more of Billy's touch. Billy's hand shifted and Dom felt himself being gently stretched, and sensual lightning came again, as unexpected and ravishing as he could ever imagine. Dom's hips thrust into Billy's hand as his intimate fluids spurted across Billy's fingers.

"You were right," Dom said when he could speak.

"About what?"

"This. It's as much pleasure as your senses can stand."

Billy laughed softly, then groaned as Dom's mouth caressed his bare chest. "We've just skimmed the surface," he said, bringing Dom's mouth up to his. "But I'm glad you're enjoying it."

Dom smiled hesitantly, one hand lifting to trace Billy's face. "Are you enjoying it, too?"

"Honey, I'd have to be dead and buried not to enjoy touching you."

Billy felt Dom's elegant fingers searching restlessly over his chest, pausing to tease flat, male nipples, then moving on to his back. Probing the line of Billy's spine between ridges of muscle, Dom stroked him, learning what it felt like to hold a man in his arms. Closing his eyes, sighing, half smiling, Dom kneaded the long, toned muscles of Billy's back, openly savoring the heat and power of his body.

Seeing Dom's enjoyment at touching him was as arousing as anything a partner had ever done to Billy, as the tips of Dom's nipples were pressing against him with each movement of his hands. When he could no longer bear looking at Dom without caressing him, Billy bent his head to bring Dom closer to him. A startled gasp became a moan as Billy circled one bud with his pointy tongue, then took the pert nipple into his mouth, tasting Dom, tugging softly on him, making Dom shudder with each soft stab of his tongue, each exquisitely restrained caress of his teeth, each movement of his fingers within the clinging heat of Dom's body.

Sounds rippled from Dom, the elemental huskiness of passion combined with the rising notes of his surprise. The hot movements of Billy's mouth and hands increased, deepened, quickened, and Dom called his name with every stroke of sweet lightning scoring him, until finally Dom shimmered and burned in Billy's arms, his body consumed by the pleasure he had been showered with.

Billy held Dom as close as he dared, stroking his trembling body with hands that also trembled, kissing his flushed cheeks, his eyelids, his reddened lips, until finally Dom's breath came more evenly. Finally, his lashes stirred and lifted, revealing eyes more blue than any gems Billy had ever seen.

"How can I…what do I say?" Dom whispered.

"Whatever you want."

"I love you, Billy."

The line of Billy's lips shifted into a bittersweet smile. Before Dom could say any more, Billy kissed him gently. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, Honey. Damn glad."

Dom opened his mouth to object that what he felt was more than the aftermath of physical pleasure, but Billy's tongue slid between his lips, preventing further words. Without thinking, Dom closed his teeth lightly raking Billy's tongue, then soothing it with slow motions of his own in a pattern Billy had taught him. The tightening of Billy's body in response, and the sweet friction of his own tongue made Dom's nerve endings shimmer again, echoes of lightening traveling from his nipples to his knees. His breath caught, broke, and caught again.

"Billy?"

He closed his eyes, trying to ignore both the heat of Dom's body and the hard heat of his own.

"I want more of you," Dom said huskily, sweeping his hands from Billy's shoulders to his waist. "I want all of you. If you - do you want me too?"

"Move your hands down a little more and tell me what you think," Billy said hoarsely.

Dom had barely moved his hands at all, when he discovered precisely what Billy meant. The sound he made while Dom measured his arousal with a slow pressure of his palm could have been pain, but Dom was looking into Billy's eyes and Dom knew it wasn't. Dom repeated the caress again, drawing another hoarse, low sound.

"Honey, you'll…."

Billy's breath hissed between his clenched teeth while his hand slid from Dom's knees to the apex of his thighs and further as he sought entrance to Dom's body. It was even hotter and tighter than a few moments ago. Dom whimpered and moved with Billy's touch, his response and his hands searching over Billy's hard, eager flesh nearly undid Billy.

Very carefully, Billy eased Dom's hands up his body, kissing his fingertips and palms and held them hard against his chest while he caught his breath.

"Billy? What's wrong?"

"Hush, Honey. Nothing's wrong."

Billy turned away, took a packet from his jeans pocket, and with the swift, sure motions of a man performing an accustomed task, he opened the packet and covered himself in slicked latex. When he turned back to Dom, Billy wasn't completely naked, and he saw Dom's rather startled, somewhat dismayed look. With a calm that was exactly opposite to what he was feeling, Billy put his finger under Dom's chin and tilted his face up to his own.

"Want to change your mind?"

Rather tentatively, Dom ran his fingertips over Billy's tightly sheathed flesh. "It felt better….without."

Billy clenched his teeth against agreeing with Dom, because it had felt a lot better to be completely naked. Just as Dom, now, felt exquisite to his bare fingers as Billy once more slid them into Dom, testing his readiness to receive him and simultaneously drawing a low sound of pleasure from him as Dom melted at his touch.

"Sex is temporary, Honey," Billy said tightly. "Nothing else is. This is a small price to pay to protect you for always."

Dom's head snapped up, the surprise clear on his face. At that moment, Billy knew that Dom hadn't even considered the ramifications of this act. He wanted to swear and laugh and swear some more at Dom's trust, but most of all, Billy wanted to plumb the depths of Dom's sweet body with the very flesh that Dom was once again caressing tentatively. Though Dom's touch was muffled by the price of protecting him, the feel of Dom's hand was nonetheless driving Billy to the edge of his control.

"Honey?" Billy gasped.

The aching restraint in his voice made Dom's heart turn over. "Yes," he whispered. "Whatever you want, just show me."

"The first time, it would be easier if….will it bother you to be beneath me?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

Holding Billy's eyes with his own, Dom lay back and opened himself to Billy. His complete trust pierced Billy, making him tremble with an emotion that was deeper and more devastating than desire. Slowly, Billy settled between Dom's splayed legs, watching him for any sign of fear or pain. Billy saw only blue eyes that widened slightly at the gently probing pressure between his thighs, then Dom's eyes closed, and he unraveled in a long, shivering acceptance of Billy within his body.

The ease with which Billy became part of Dom's body was another instant of piercing emotion deep within him…and then he was moving and Dom was clinging to him, measuring him in a new way, moving with him, loving him as he had never loved another man.

Fire swept through Billy's restraint, burning him, burning Dom, each wanting more and more. Instinctively, Dom's long legs shifted, wrapping snugly around Billy's lean hips, luring and demanding with the same motions. Answering with hard, sweeping movements, Billy drove himself into Dom, filling him, drinking from Dom's sweet mouth until he felt his self control slipping away. Billy fought against ecstasy, not wanting it to come to either of them so soon, not wanting to end the burning arousal that was in itself a savage pleasure; then it was too late, the pleasure was too piercing, too overwhelming. Wrapping his fingers around Dom's burning arousal that was trapped between them, Billy's fingers slid along Dom's slick length as he struggled against his release.

Billy took Dom one, final time, all of him, and held himself there while ecstasy stripped everything away, but Dom and the deep, endless pulses of their releases.

Chapter 13

Comments

[loozy.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. That certainly was intense... And lovely... I loved how the trust that's developed in Dom concerning Billy is shown in this chapter...

Please, please, please, post the next part soon... Pleaaaaase :)

[-vanillashake.livejournal.com]

Oh.My.God. They actually...wow.
I'm so in love with this Billy, holding himself back for Dom and Dom..trsuting Billy with everything and...everything's just fine and sweet and wow.

:)

(sweating, shaking)

[bride-no2.livejournal.com]

seriously...you could kill a girl writing smut that good. (panting, despite being in a computer lab at school.)

oy...beautiful, heart-wrenching and hot, hot, hot. You guys rock my world.

Off to distract myself from...being very warm indeed.

[starlingthefool.livejournal.com]

Coherency has failed. Can't say anything but... wow. That was gorgeous.

[crsty1961.livejournal.com]

weiosroppsa;opZSscpa lv sdpdzdpdlkf [.0zd!!!111!!1


....


**breath breath breath** Hot so hot....

I go now.

[garuparu90.livejournal.com]

You are amazing. I have failed to put any other thoughts together at the moment.

[divafits.livejournal.com]

this really is amazing, I keep waiting for the next new chapter every day but this one......wow!

[katze-boston.livejournal.com]

*moans incoherently*

*and repeatedly*

*sighs happily*

[sourgreenapples.livejournal.com]

Wow, this was so good, as usual, you really make the world slip away with your words.

"I love you, Billy."

The line of Billy's lips shifted into a bittersweet smile.

Okay, I find that wording a little bit ominous... so worried about Billy's background...

And Major yay for Dom being so trusting!

[darkfaery1.livejournal.com]

Oh my goddess, you're killing me! I adore the part where Dom is sketching the site with Billy as Shaman. That was fantastic as is all your historical and landscape details. I love how Billy speaks of the Anasazi like he was there. I can't wait to see where this goes.

Oh, did I mention the incredibly hot, romantic sex?? *sigh*

[divinemadam.livejournal.com]

SMUT!!!!! Doing the happy dance for SMUT! Elizabeth would be proud! Very intense, yet tender, and in the true manner of Ms. Lowell, skipping over the messy parts. I always liked that about her books, like she was too much of a lady to mention the "dirty" parts of sex. Funny, huh? Don't get me wrong, I like reading smut that has the messy parts as well, but they just don't fit with the rest of her writing style, so I'm glad that you skimmed over it here.

BTW, I keep meaning to ask why you chose the name Ethan for Dom's former boyfriend. Is it paying homage to the character that Charlie killed in Lost?

[sassywitch.livejournal.com]

There is going to be a lot more smut than there is in the original story (big surprise from me I know) and most of it actually contributes to the plot changes i've had to make. I've added a few things tht I would have liked to have seen in the original story and always wondered how things would have changed if Elizabeth had added acouple of twists.

I chose Ethan for a few reasons (1 a homage to lost, 2. I like the name and 3 Dom's former boyfriend was originally cast as Karl but I didn't like him there.)

Glad you're still loving it hon.

[divinemadam.livejournal.com]

My only real qualm with the original story is that there wasn't enough smut, so to hear that you have upped the SQ (Smut-quotient) is making me dance like a little girl in her easter dress! I'm glad that you didn't make Karl Dom's ex. He can be the bully in the desert, but I hate to think of him as being truly evil.

[sassywitch.livejournal.com]

well the SQ is well and truly ramped up, I'm hoping you'll like it.

I know I couldn't make Karl evil, mean yes, evil no.

[daydreambeleevr.livejournal.com]

sassy, you are killing me with how good this is.

i'm so happy for Dom that he was able to hold his own with Billy at the beginning, even if he didn't understand that he'd done just that. watching their relationship, the dynamics between them shift and change, is incredible.

"Sex is temporary, Honey," Billy said tightly. "Nothing else is. This is a small price to pay to protect you for always."

this made me a bit skeerd. i know you've been saying the Billy is just as "broken" as Dom was, only differently, but that doesn't mean he's sick does it?

excellent installment, but that's not a surprise!!

kerry =)

[sassywitch.livejournal.com]

*blushes*

Thank you sweetheart, but it wouldn't be half as good as it is without dylan_dufresne's beta skills and thoughts and assistance throughout this whole process.

He's not sick but he's possibly even more broken emotionally than Dom, he's just not fragile, at least to the casual observer.

[unbrokenmuse.livejournal.com]

Whew! That was quite a breakthrough for both of these characters. I like the connection of Billy to the "outlaw shaman" in Dom's sketch and the overarching feeling that they both have history in this place that's bleeding into the present. A sense of continuation of an older story and relationship. It makes the sexual encounter even more satisfying, and WoW was it satisfying. Go You!

[sassywitch.livejournal.com]

They have such a way of tying themselves into the past don't they.

Glad you're enjoying it.

[surreality-fan.livejournal.com]

i love you and i love you and i love you.

oh and YAY! billy uses his ramrod! /immature. lame. funny?

[sassywitch.livejournal.com]

*loves you back*

*giggles*